HE was famously born in a caravan on the side of the road, but now, as he soaks up the sun on the rear deck of his £16million yacht, Alfie Best is truly living the dream.
It’s been a year since the billionaire – known as the UK’s richest gypsy – left his homeland to live as a tax exile in Monaco, which he says is now filling up with rich Brit tycoons like him.
Self-made millionaire Alfie Best enjoying his new life in Monaco[/caption]
Britain’s richest gypsy is living the dream with a superyacht[/caption]
He snapped up the boat for £16million[/caption]
He rents it out for £80,000 Euros a week[/caption]
The tax man allows him to return to Britain for 45 days a year, but Alfie – who made his fortune from his Wyldecrest residential and holiday parks – can count on one hand the number of times he has been back.
With no plans to return anytime soon, he instead invited The Sun to spend a day with him in Monaco, which has proved a true home away from home.
“I’m working in a climate that actually welcomes business. You pay tax on your businesses there and I’m pleased to do it,” he explains.
“You’re welcomed. They want people working in Monaco. They don’t want just people to come there and retire.
“They want people to generate wealth here.
“And, don’t forget, we’re talking about a country that is only three quarters of a mile long. It just seems to me crazy that Britain could have lost its way so badly.”
Alfie, 54, reveals how he has sold off his multi-million super car collection and the £5million helicopter – number 007 – has also gone thanks to a dispute with the tax man.
He is currently living in a £12,500-a-month rented apartment while he looks for somewhere to buy as his permanent home in this millionaires’ paradise. The same flat in London would cost about £3,000 a month to rent.
Alfie says: “I got it for £12,500 a month because it was run-down and I’ve done it up.
“When I move out to my new property they could charge double that – £25,000 a month.”
Talking of rental, punters can also charter Alfie’s 100ft-long yacht, Wyldecrest, with its crew of five, for a mere €85,000 a week.
The boat is moored just down the coast from Monaco, where this week the harbour was choc-a-block with millionaires eyeing up yachts to buy during the exclusive Principality’s annual boat show.
Over lunch, served by the Wyldecrest’s own chef, Alfie tells us that it costs £750,000 a year to run his yacht and another £70,000 per year for mooring fees.
During our chat, he also reveals that he has snapped up a 100-acre horse farm in Florida, worth £10million, and become the owner of a drainage business in wealthy Dubai.
Alfie is hoping to purchase this house in Monte Carlo next[/caption]
The businessman relaxes on his yacht berthed in the Bay of Angles[/caption]
Alfie has had to give up his supercar collection[/caption]
Driving his white Porsche from Nice Airport to Monaco, he says he has plans to build caravan and lodge parks along the Mediterranean coast in the south of France.
He says: “I’m driving a Porsche Cayenne jeep, which is small enough for the roads around here. I’m getting up and I’m working every day, but I’m working in good weather.”
He adds: “How would I describe Monaco? There’s so many Brits here it’s like being in Britain, but the best bits.
“It’s safe. The streets are clean. I don’t know if you know this.
“A young boy was stabbed and killed in Knightsbridge eight weeks ago. He was my friend’s son.
“Oh, Jesus. For wearing his watch, he got stabbed and killed.”
007 chopper sold
Alfie’s pride and joy when he was in the UK was his £5million special edition Airbus ACH130 helicopter, which he acquired in 2019 and is designed in the style of Aston Martin.
But since leaving the UK, he has had to sell it.
He says: “The helicopter’s gone. Had to sell it because HMRC are trying to declare that I didn’t need it.
“They said I was using it for private use. So, all the time I was flying up and down looking at my parks that was business.”
How would I describe Monaco? There’s so many Brits here it’s like being in Britain, but the best bits
Wyldecrest own 120 residential and holiday parks the length and breadth of Britain, worth £1.1billion.
When I ask if he is haggling with HMRC over the tax bill, Alfie says: “I wouldn’t call it haggling. I think they’re making it up as they’re going along.”
He blames PM Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves for killing off enterprise in Britain in their desperate attempts to pay off the country’s massive debts.
He says: “I didn’t come to Monaco to retire. I want to continue working. And that’s just because of the sort of person that I am. I’ve continued to invest in businesses but just not in the UK.
His £5m ‘007’ helicopter has also gone[/caption]
Alfie aged one with his father, Alfie[/caption]
“Wyldecrest in the UK used to grow by 10 to 15per cent every year. It has now decreased.
“The business is now just moving along and churning its wheels every day.
“I mentor other people in their businesses and everybody is coming out with the same story. It’s as if the Government is against them.
“You’re not only losing the ultra-wealthy. You’re now losing your brain drain.
“I love my country. I love Britain. And do you know something? You know by stepping out of it, you realise how patriotic we all are.
“It sounds like I’m very anti-Labour. I’m not. I thought Tony Blair was a great Prime Minister. I thought Margaret Thatcher was a great Prime Minister.
“But what we have now is a human rights lawyer that is parading as a Prime Minister. Running the country like a human rights lawyer. That doesn’t work. You have to put your country first.”
“But I’m living in Monaco and I celebrate Monaco now. I won’t be coming back to live in the UK anytime soon.”
A young Alfie in the boxing ring[/caption]
Alfie flies all over the world to tend to his businesses[/caption]
